


It Ended on Valentine's Day

by yukiawison



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Panic Attacks, Pining!Keith, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 14:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9750881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukiawison/pseuds/yukiawison
Summary: It started with ridiculously late movers and a box of pizza.





	

It started with a ridiculously late moving van. Keith checked his wristwatch for what felt like the millionth time and scowled. 

The van with all of his stuff was supposed to have arrived 3 hours ago. But here he was, alone, cold, hungry, and pissed off, waiting for, among other things, his mattress. He was starting to think he'd end up sleeping on the floor. 

His phone buzzed and he opened the text from Shiro. Congrats on ur new place. Hope the moving's going alright. Shiro had ended the message with a sparkly heart emoji. Keith didn't have the heart to tell him things were going less than smoothly. It had been a tough move for the both of them, complaining about shitty moving companies would be a bad omen. 

The door of Keith's new building opened and he glanced at the man who came out. He was tall, with dark skin and messy hair that stuck out in twelve different directions. He was wearing sweatpants and a baseball shirt with blue sleeves. He yawned and made his way over to the pizza delivery man who handed him two boxes. On his way back he caught Keith staring. 

"Are you locked out?" He asked. 

"I...um, I'm moving in but my stuff's not here yet."

"No kidding?" The man broke out into a grin. "You're not in the vacancy on the fourth floor are you?"

"I am," Keith said, face feeling hot. He didn't like talking to people other than Shiro or Allura. People made him nervous, especially people with pretty smiles. "You know it?"

"Dude, you're my new next door neighbor." The stranger lifted up his fist and Keith awkwardly bumped it with his own. "Do you need a hand or anything? I'm Lance by the way."

"Keith," he replied. "And thank you but no. The movers have been keeping me waiting awhile but they should be here shortly."

One of Lance's eyebrows quirked up. "How long ago did they say that?" 

"An hour and a half," he mumbled. "I don't want to miss them when they do come." He glanced at the pizzas in Lance's hands and his stomach twisted. 

"Have you eaten?"

"Not since this morning."

"Come upstairs and eat with me. It's no use waiting out here in the cold if they're not coming."

"I..."

"Let me be neighborly, man. You're probably starving."

"Okay," Keith said, sucking in a breath. Allura told him he should be more open to changes of plan, more okay with being less in control. "If you really don't mind. And I can pay you back for the pizza I eat so don't worry about..."

"Bro, chill, it's fine," Lance rested a hand on Keith's shoulder and his heart nearly leapt out of his chest. "I honestly don't mind at all." The smile was back full force and now Keith was well aware that "Lance: pretty, nice, pizza sharing neighbor" had dimples. (Wow, is this seriously the time to be super gay Kogane? Is it?) 

Sure enough, Lance's apartment was right beside his. They shared a wall but evidently not the same decorating taste. Despite being his age, Lance's apartment resembled a frat bro's room: creased band posters and a mini basketball hoop in the wall, discarded takeout containers and beer cans on the counter, and mismatched furniture that looked like it was sourced from the dump. 

"Nice place," he said, trying his best to sound sincere.

"Yeah I don't need style tips from the guy with the mullet thank you very much," he said, evidently seeing through Keith's half-assed compliment. 

Keith's brow furrowed. "You hardly know me and you're insulting my hair?"

Lance grinned again. "The hair says it all buddy."

Keith glanced around again and his eye caught an out of place object in the clutter. "Do you paint?"

There was an easel near the wide window. On it was a canvas with a painting of what appeared to be the morning view, reds and yellows and oranges melted over the skyline. 

"Yeah, landscapes mostly. I try to sell my stuff but it's not exactly profitable," he laughed self-deprecatingly. "I work at the art supplies store downtown."

Keith nodded. "It's good."

"I got up early to work on it," he said, gesturing to his painting vaguely. 

That explained his haggard appearance. 

"You want some pizza?"

Keith learned several things about Lance McClain that day: 1) he was a heathen who ate pizza crust first 2) he was frustratingly competitive (they played a round of Mario Kart after the pizza) and 3) he had way more of a life than Keith did. 

"Last weekend Pidge and I—Pidge is my tiny hacker loser friend—climbed the water tower to take pictures. It was crazy windy. I thought we were gonna get blown off. I should show you that place it's sick."

Lance was one of those comfortable people that made everyone feel like a friend. 

"Yeah," Keith said, not knowing what he was saying. Lance's hair was falling in his face in a distracting way. Keith Kogane, secret (seriously don't tell anyone) romantic, was thinking about how this impromptu dinner had all of the makings of a meet cute. 

Lance's phone rang. "Shit, sorry I should take this." He answered the call. "Hey babe what's up? Oh...oh okay I can do that. See you in a bit. Bye."

Okay so the use of the term babe wasn't an entirely encouraging sign. 

"Sorry Keith I've gotta pick my girlfriend up. Any word from the moving people?"

Keith glanced down at his own phone, glad for the chance to look away from Lance. He now felt thoroughly stupid. "They're coming tomorrow."

"Do you want to crash on my couch or something? I could..."

"No, it's okay. You've done more than enough. I should go. Thanks Lance." He got up quickly, not meeting Lance's eyes as he made for the door. 

"Are you sure you don't want a sleeping bag or something?"

"It's fine. Thanks. I should go. It was nice to meet you," he stuttered out. "Have fun with your girlfriend." 

He slipped into the hallway before Lance could say anything else. So much for opening up. 

He slept on the floor that night, arms crossed over his chest, head arranged uncomfortably on top of his jacket. He toyed with the strands of his hair and tried to ignore the laughing and talking of two people next door. 

***  
It continued with (obnoxious) chance encounters. Keith finally did get his shit moved in. His apartment was laid out in the same manner as Lance's but ended up significantly cleaner. He found a good place for his succulent collection and squeezed all of his books on his bookshelf. 

"Whoa so you're like emo indie trash then bro?" Lance said the first time he saw Keith's place. He'd knocked on the door to ask if Keith had any milk, bowl of fruit loops in hand. 

"Where did you get the emo part?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "C'mon Keith," he said. "It's all in the eyes. You look indie but you totally sobbed when MCR broke up. Don't try to lie to me."

Keith laughed, like actually laughed, which didn't happen all that often. He got Lance the milk. 

They met in the hallway sometimes. Keith was usually exhausted and looked like shit when it happened because of course he did. Once, after an absolutely grueling day at work, and soggy trip to the grocery store he literally ran into him. It had been pouring so he slipped, groceries going everywhere, Lance tumbling down with him. 

"Fuck man watch where you're...Keith? I didn't realize it was you. Let me help." He helped him up and started gathering the groceries. 

"I'm sorry," Keith said, voice close to breaking. "I didn't mean to run into you it's just been a long day and I'm all wet and, fuck I'm sorry." He took in Lance's appearance. He was wearing a navy dress shirt and tie, blazer fitted nicely over his broad shoulders. His hair was slicked back uncharacteristically. He clearly had somewhere to be and yet here he was helping. 

"You look nice," he said before he could stop himself. Keith felt ugly and small now: smudged glasses because he'd forgotten his contacts, breaking out on his forehead from stress, bags beneath his eyes big enough to hold his scattered groceries. It had been a bad week. Shiro had been too busy to Skype. "Are you going somewhere?"

"My girlfriend wants me to meet her parents," he said, laughing nervously. "My hair feels weird like this but it's what she wants."

"I like your hair the way it usually is," Keith said quietly. 

"I haven't seen you in awhile."

"I've had a lot to do at work."

"What do you do exactly?"

Keith worked at a law firm. He was working his way up. It was a difficult process but it was work it. Helping people was worth it. 

"I'm a lawyer."

"An emo indie lawyer," Lance said with a smirk. 

"Good luck on your date. Sorry I ran into you," Keith said bluntly. He wasn't particularly interested in watching Lance be cute at the current moment.

"It's okay. I like seeing you," he frowned. "Don't work too hard man." 

Keith nodded and gathered the rest of his groceries. That night he went through a quart of ice cream and three hours of Animal Planet before collapsing on his bed. He still didn't know Lance's girlfriend's name. He like to imagine she always had stuff stuck in her teeth and had an annoying voice and was a bad kisser. If he didn't know her name she seemed less real. 

One night there was music blaring from Lance's apartment in the middle of the night. As severe as Keith's pining for the guy was, he was tired and pissed. He banged on his door with an angry fist. 

"Keith," Lance's voice shook. Actually Lance's whole body was shaking. "I'm sorry. I thought I had headphones."

Keith's expression melted from anger to concern. Something was wrong. "Are you okay?"

Lance shook harder, he was leaning on the doorframe, eyes wide and breath coming in short gasps. "I think I'm having a panic attack. I uh, thought the music might help."

"Let me get you some water. You should sit down," he said calmly. Panic attacks were awful but not unfamiliar to him. Lance moved aside and Keith came in.

"You're safe Lance," he said, once the shaking had subsided and Lance was breathing a bit better. "You're safe and it's going to be okay in just a little bit."

Lance nodded slowly. He could hardly see him in the dark. The moonlight came in through the window and hit his face in a haunting way. 

"I'm sorry," he said again. 

"Don't be sorry. It isn't your fault. It happens."

"I don't know what happened. I was just thinking about my future and what I'm doing and...shit I don't know. Suddenly it felt like way too much."

"I know what you mean," he said with a sigh. "Are you alright here by yourself? I should get back soon."

"I'm fine, thanks Keith." He looked embarrassed. "Sorry I'm such a bad neighbor."

"You aren't," Keith noticed that Lance was in the habit of making these sort of self-deprecating jokes. He didn't like it. "You're a really good neighbor. Goodnight Lance."

"Goodnight mullet man."

***  
It ended on Valentine's Day. For a week Lance had spoken of nothing but the extravagant dinner plans he had with his girlfriend. He was going to make her dinner (Cuban food, he was using his mother's recipes) and order this fancy chocolate cake that apparently had some ridiculous waitlist to even order it. He'd painted her a portrait. Keith didn't want to see it. 

"You have any plans mullet man?" 

"No, and stop calling me that."

"Really?" Lance continued, ignoring the last part. He was on a step ladder hanging pink streamers. Keith would've thought it was way too much if it was anyone other than Lance. "Cute guy like you?"

Keith went beet red. "I mean, there isn't anyone I'd...I mean all I do is work and there's no one at work who I'd want to..."

"Relax Keith it's not an interrogation." He gritted his teeth. Lance was quite irritating in his cluelessness. 

"Well you're going to have the picture perfect Valentine's Day then?" He diverted the conversation in a safer direction quietly. 

Lance's expression grew murkier. "I hope so. If I'm being honest this is the first relationship I've had that made it to Valentine's Day. I'm a little nervous." He smiled an anxious little smile and Keith remembered the night of the panic attack. 

"You'll do great," he said firmly. 

He left a couple of hours before Lance's girlfriend was set to arrive. He hunkered down in his bedroom and started in on a Chopped marathon, glancing at his phone every so often to text Allura vague answers about her inquiries regarding the hot neighbor. At around 8 he started to get hungry and set out to order some food. 

Except, he soon realized, he had left his wallet at Lance's. In order to get food he'd have to interrupt Lance's perfect date. A part of him, the jealous and selfish part, was happy he had a reason to butt in. The better part of him just wanted things to go well for "hot neighbor."

He knocked on the door cautiously. It would be a quick in and out, no major disruption, no introductions, none of that. Lance opened the door more quickly than he expected. But he didn't look happy. In fact he looked like he'd been crying. 

"Oh, Keith it's you."

"I left my wallet. I hope I'm not interrupting."

Lance opened the door wider. The table was made up the same as when Keith had left. The girlfriend was no where in sight. 

"Did something happen?"

"Um...she came and uh...broke up with me. Then she left."

"What?!"

He sniffed and avoided Keith's eyes. "She said it was too much. She wasn't ready and didn't want to lie to me on Valentine's Day. I'm not sure she ever really liked me."

"Oh Lance..."

"It's okay. I'm used to it," he shrugged. "I'm just not the first choice. I'm not long term boyfriend material."

"It's not okay and you are Lance," Keith said through gritted teeth. "I can't believe she would do something like that to you," His face flushing angrily. Anyone would be lucky to have you Lance. "You're so kind and smart and funny and so thoughtful with your big romantic gestures how could you possibly think you're not worth a long term relationship? I don't understand how someone could do something so fucking vile on Valentine's Day. I get that it's hard sometimes. I feel really alone here without my brother or my old home but you make all of that so much better. You make it all okay because you are so worthy Lance. I can't stress that enough. You deserve so much." He stopped, winded. 

Keith looked up at Lance and saw that he was smiling, just the tiniest bit. "Thanks," he said. And then before Keith could register Lance leaned over and kissed him. It was soft and warm and nearly gave Keith a heart attack. 

When he pulled away Keith pulled him close again and kissed him back.

"Thanks," Keith said, dumbstruck. 

"You're welcome mullet man. Do you want to come in?" Lance was grinning. He was grinning and his hair was all messed up like the day Keith had met him. 

"I..." he hesitated and suddenly Lance looked panicked. "No, it's not you or anything. I really like you Lance. I've wanted that to happen since I moved in believe me it's not that. And it's not like I don't want to be your rebound. I am more than happy to be your rebound I just hoped we could be a little more than that. I uh...I really think you're long term boyfriend material Lance so..."

"I really like you too," Lance cut him off. "Could we just eat? And like watch a movie or something? We don't even need to kiss again tonight if you want to slow it down."

"Yeah," Keith nodded vehemently. "Yeah, let's eat. And we can kiss some more. That's fine too."

Lance knocked on the door the next morning. Keith had his space pajamas on, and a no doubt dopey smile on his face. 

"Hey neighbor," Keith said. It was going to be a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> *Posts V - Day fic at last second instead of doing homework* #yolo. This is my first Voltron fic. Let me know what you think.
> 
> (Also ao3 posted multiple copies of this for some reason? I deleted them but if for some reason your bookmark is gone that's why.)


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